Why Drew Barrymore negotiated a higher salary for Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet

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Why Drew Barrymore negotiated a higher salary for Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet

By Susan Devaney

7 years ago

Drew Barrymore has opened up about finding her “value” in the workplace and why it pushed her to negotiate a higher salary. 

Drew Barrymore has gone from a child breakout star in E.T to a hard-as-nails agent in Charlie’s Angels, which is why for as long as we can remember she’s graced our screens with formidable female characters.

However, in a recent comedy actress roundtable interview with actresses Rachel Brosnahan, Alison Brie, Tracee Ellis Ross, Debra Messing, Molly Shannon and Frankie Shaw for the Hollywood Reporter, the critically-acclaimed actress admitted to forgetting her worth.

While discussing pay disparity in the film industry, Barrymore spoke about (at first) failing to negotiate the salary she deserved for Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet.

“I think I’m just so [nervous] to ever go back to having no career. I know what it’s like to be told, ‘You’re done for a while, sit on ice in the black-list corner,’” she explained.

“And I revived my career — I started producing and having success with films for, like, 20 years and then I had kids and I stepped back.”

The 50 First Dates actress admitted that as a single parent and returning to back to work made her accept whatever salary she was first offered for the show.

“But when I [found myself] all of a sudden a single mum, I kind of had to go back to work and I didn’t know how to do that with kids and I was in a freak spiral. So when I got this show, I was like, ‘I’ll take whatever you can give me.’”

However, Barrymore released her “value” after season one and went in to negotiate a higher wage.

“Then on season two and three, I was like, ‘Maybe I’m of value to this show.’”

According to Variety, Barrymore negotiated a salary of $350,000 (£261,000) per episode for Santa Clarita Diet.

May that be a lesson to us all.

You can read more on how to negotiate a higher salary in the workplace here.

Images: Getty  

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